All posts by Sean Scribner

About Sean Scribner

Pastor Sean is the Lead Pastor at EMC. He and his wife Rebecca have three children: Savannah, Nathan, and William.

Long Expected
Sermon Series

Hope can be a powerful thing. It produces passion for the impossible. It realizes what has yet to be actualized. It binds to the future those who are captive to the present.

But hope can be a dangerous thing. Placed in the wrong object, it can lead to the deepest of disappointment and regret—exacerbating the sting of unfulfilled desires, relegating the longings of the heart to the category of fancy.

In Advent, we remember what it means to hope rightly and find stability in the drama of long expectation. But we do so from the nearside of history’s perspective, looking ahead while looking back—back to the One who fulfills; back to the One who satisfies; back to the One who completes.

He came in just the right way, at just the right time. For those who expect, he exceeds all expectation. Hope of the earth. Desire of nations. Joy of the heart.

Come, thou long-expected!

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
But When the Right Time Came
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  • But When the Right Time Came

    But When the Right Time Came

    Nov 29, 2020 • 42:41

    God prepared the whole world for the coming of His Son at just the right time. The arrival of Jesus was by divine appointment–on the global stage, at the center of human history. But the promise of Advent is that he also comes to your heart and mine at just…

  • Made In Every Respect Like Us

    Made In Every Respect Like Us

    Dec 6, 2020 • 40:13

    As you and I face daily pressures to lose hope, grow weak in the knees, and compromise our faith, we can turn to one who was made in every respect like us. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Long Expected Scripture: Hebrews 2:14-18

  • Promised Long Ago

    Promised Long Ago

    Dec 13, 2020 • 34:39

    The gospel comes from God. Its substance is the Son. Its attestation is the scriptures, promised long ago. Its scope is all the nations, to bring people to the obedience of faith and for the glory of his name. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Long Expected Scripture: Romans 1:1-6

  • The Man Jesus Christ

    The Man Jesus Christ

    Dec 20, 2020 • 36:08

    There is no peace on earth, but you can have peace with God. A settlement has been reached. The ransom price has been paid. The one God has provided a mediator, who is Christ Jesus the man. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Long Expected Scripture: I Timothy 2:5-6

Promises
Sermon Series

In the beginning, everything was very good. Nothing was broken. Evil did not exist. All was right in the world.

But something terrible happened. Trust was broken; relationships shattered; the future now bleak and uncertain. In short, paradise was lost.

But not hope.

Promises is a series of messages about hope in the Faithful One’s determination to make right what went wrong. He is the Covenant Keeper, whose word is His bond, whose promises made are promises kept. Forever.

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
What's Wrong With the World?
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  • What's Wrong With the World?

    What's Wrong With the World?

    Nov 1, 2020 • 54:45

    What’s wrong with the world? I am. You are. But what is the hope of the world. He is. Hear his invitation. Own and repent of your failures. Put your hope in his promises. Trust in his gracious provision. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Promises Scripture: Genesis 1:1-21

  • How Bad Are Things Really?

    How Bad Are Things Really?

    Nov 8, 2020 • 34:34

    Humanity’s condition is bleak. Our prognosis is grim. We are dead, enslaved, and condemned. But thanks be to God who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ! Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Promises Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10

  • A God Who Makes Covenants

    A God Who Makes Covenants

    Nov 15, 2020 • 40:38

    God is a covenant-making God, who binds himself freely even while knowing the cost. He is the covenant maker, and he is the covenant keeper. He can be trusted to keep all of his promises. Speaker: Aaron Meservey Series: Promises Scripture: Genesis 8:20-22; 9:8-11; 12:1-3; 17:1, 7-10; Exodus 19:5-8; II Samuel…

  • A God Who Keeps His Promises

    A God Who Keeps His Promises

    Nov 22, 2020 • 42:05

    As people who await the new heavens and earth, we stand on the promises of God, using every opportunity to cultivate intimacy with Him, and join him in his mission to seek and save the lost. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Promises Scripture: Revelation 21:1-8

The Meaning of it All
Sermon Series

Galaxies. Stars. Planets. The cosmos. You.

The Bible teaches God preceded it all. The Bible teaches he made it all. The Bible even teaches he actively sustains it all. The question is: Why?

Tune in to this new sermon series that explores the why of creation, which includes the why of you.

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
The Why of Creation
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  • The Why of Creation

    The Why of Creation

    Oct 11, 2020 • 47:25

    God could have created nothing at all and he still would have been God, complete, and happy. But God’s triune goodness is such that it delights in being shared. That is the why of creation. That is the why of salvation. That is the why of the cosmos. That is…

  • The Image of God

    The Image of God

    Oct 18, 2020 • 44:38

    Mankind was created to know God, to love God, and to resemble God unlike anything else in all of creation. Though sin has entered the equation, God loved us so much that he gave his only begotten Son that we might become like him and come to know the joy…

  • The Purpose of Life

    The Purpose of Life

    Oct 25, 2020 • 46:13

    In Christ, God is bringing heaven and earth back together, repairing what was ruptured in the Fall. The Christian life is a living expression of that: A microcosm on the individual level of all God is doing on the cosmic level in bringing all things under submission to Christ. Speaker:…

God Made Known
Sermon Series

What is God? Who is God? Can we know him? How can we know about him? What is he like? Simple questions. Complex answers. Answers that the Christian faith has a thing or two to say about. God Made Known is a series that explores some of the most basic aspects of the living God and how we come to know him.

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
The One True God
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  • The One True God

    The One True God

    Sep 6, 2020 • 42:06

    We were created to know, enjoy, and glorify the one true God. Life makes no ultimate sense until he is the one true desire of our hearts, and desiring him begins with knowing him as he really is. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: God Made Known Scripture: Genesis 1:1

  • The Knowable God

    The Knowable God

    Sep 13, 2020 • 49:20

    God wants to be known. God can be known. God is making himself known right now. At every moment in life, God the Holy Spirit is pointing to God the Son in a saving way, all to the glory of God the Father. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: God Made Known Scripture:…

  • The Triune God

    The Triune God

    Sep 20, 2020 • 31:54

    The one God who is three persons is generously inviting you and me to share in his life and love. Speaker: Aaron Meservey Series: God Made Known Scripture: II Corinthians 13:14

  • The Holy God

    The Holy God

    Sep 27, 2020 • 39:44

    Moses encountered the otherness, majesty, and purity of God revealed. The purpose of the Holy One then is the same today: to rescue and restore that which has been lost. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: God Made Known Scripture: Exodus 3:1-14

Work(s) in Progress
Sermon Series

Christian friend, you have not arrived. You know it, and I know it. Truth is, neither have I. In fact, we all have a very long way to go. How do we measure our progress?

The book of James was addressed to a scattered people during a time of rising persecution. Full of practical metaphors and imperatives, it was written to exhort, not inform. The problems his readers wrestled with did not boil down to doctrine, but exertion—they had faith, but lacked effort. To James, this was not enough. They had stopped short when they still had so far to go.

What are the implications of being made right with God? How do we make sense of that ever-present tension between being and doing? How do faith and works relate? Work(s) in Progress is a sermon series that taps into the wisdom of James in order to answer these questions—to encourage continued growth in the Christian faith; to work out what God has worked in; to evaluate our progress as we patiently await the Lord’s return.

Series Playlist

Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Elizabeth City EMC Podcast
Listen Up!
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  • Listen Up!

    Listen Up!

    Jul 19, 2020 • 42:41

    By immersing ourselves in the perfect law of God, we place ourselves in the center of the environment in which we were designed to flourish. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Work(s) in Progress Scripture: James 1:19-27

  • Preferential Treatment

    Preferential Treatment

    Jul 26, 2020 • 39:40

    Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God means refusing to follow the corruption of this world and its pattern of fawning deference to some and callous indifference to others. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Work(s) in Progress Scripture: James 2:1-13

  • Faith and Works

    Faith and Works

    Aug 2, 2020 • 38:38

    If you really believe in Christ, you will really obey him. And that obedience will always result in good works, which are nothing more or less than your response to all he has done for you. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Work(s) in Progress Scripture: James 2:14-26

  • How to be Perfect

    How to be Perfect

    Aug 9, 2020 • 38:33

    James lays out our strategy to being perfect…by controlling our tongue! This goes far beyond not saying bad words or not engaging in certain activities, but flows from a heart that loves what is good and holy and hates wheat is evil. Speaker: Aaron Meservey Series: Work(s) in Progress Scripture: James…

  • Grace for the Humble

    Grace for the Humble

    Aug 16, 2020 • 36:55

    When our attitudes and actions reveal an adulterous unfaithfulness to God that risks placing us outside the scope of his grace, we must humble ourselves and come back into the joy and security of intimacy with him. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Work(s) in Progress Scripture: James 4:7-10

  • Patient Endurance

    Patient Endurance

    Aug 23, 2020 • 48:30

    When God wrote the script from before all time, he had a goal in mind for it all: To create for himself a people that look like his Son. So take courage. Strengthen your hearts. May no complaining be found on your lips. For he will do something about injustice…

  • Prayer in All Things

    Prayer in All Things

    Aug 30, 2020 • 46:36

    We live in a time of great hardship and collective waywardness–a time where there is much to be thankful for, but also much to be concerned about–when trials and temptations abound and people of faith are wandering from commitment to the truth of God’s word. Let us be faithful in…

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